The Case for Generalists

Have you heard someone referred to as a jack of all trades, master of none? It’s typically not meant as a compliment--it’s that they tend to know about a lot of things, but none of those things deeply. And the implication is that we often value specialization--the one who is the deep expert. That’s the person to be.

Expertise is good and can certainly pay off. But today’s guest makes a compelling argument for why generalists triumph in a specialized world. David Epstein is a New York Times bestselling author and has come out with what is for me one of the top books of this season. It’s entitled Range, and it’s a book that takes the whole 10,000 hours to develop expertise idea and blows it apart. I consider it a must-read book. You'll be glad you did.

Learn more about David at his website https://www.davidepstein.com/the-range/. Some additional resources include:

• You can watch the debate between David and Malcolm Gladwell here.
• David mentions Herminia Ibarra during our discussion. You can catch our interview with Herminia in episode 130.

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Talent Triangle: Leadership

FLUFFING A DUCK and CELEBRATION by Kevin Macleod Licensed under a Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 License.

JACK OF ALL TRADES by BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN available on YouTube